Bio/Art Statement

Linda Laino is an artist, writer and teacher who has been making art in one form or another for over 35 years. Holding an MFA from Virginia Commonwealth University, she enjoys playing with words as much as form and color. Since 2012, she has resided in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico where the surreal atmosphere and sensuous colors have wormed their way into her paintings. Finding beautiful things on the ground is a favorite pastime. Her art can be seen at www.lindalaino.com. Some of her essays and poetry can be found on Elephant Journal, The New Engagement, and Life In 10 Minutes.

R.M. Rilke once pondered whether all art was not simply an act of profound remembrance. As humans, we yearn to elevate our ordinary experiences into something less ordinary, something that has more weight, something we can set to music. As an artist, I am a hunter and a thief, chasing shadows, stealing light. The images I encounter on a daily basis, both in my mind and my “reality” are flashes of color and form, unusual juxtapositions that seem to want to be connected. I attempt to layer images visually as we hear sound in our daily lives. Incongruous sounds enter and exit our space without our consent resulting in a tapestry of song that needs no composer. We encounter the world visually in the same way, but mostly in a blur, unconscious and un-awake. As an artist, I want to harness the stillness of this moving picture in an effort to arrest and move the viewer in some way. Art and poetry for me are ways to preserve these flashes, these images, these insights, so that once captured, perhaps my ‘remembrance’ may become profound for someone else.